Tag Archives: South Africa

Again we wake at dawn. Today is less foggy – it’s clear with no sign of rain. The Cape area has been suffering from a drought for going on two years, and the lack of rain is an issue. Here in the Shamwari it is less of a concern though. There is a river that runs thru the reserve, and it is flowing freely. Plus the balance between herbivores and carnivores is excellent. There’s no over grazing, and the carnivores eat well almost every day. Or I guess – what ever day they feel like it. So our surroundings are green and lush. Nice.

Coffee, biscotti, and we’re off. The former policeman and his wife have opted not to come – they are sleeping in and relaxing, but the 4 of us are keeners. We’re up, ready and waiting when the safari vehicle arrives!

This is likely to be the last safari I shall ever do. We’ve been to the Southern part of Africa now three times – and I’m done. The grinding poverty amid the extreme wealth is just too hard for me to ignore, but that won’t prevent me from enjoying my last time among the animals.

And we luck out.

We drive into the main section of the reserve, and Freddie spots an elephant. We drive closer, stop and turn off the engine – and realize it’s not just one Elephant. It’s a dozen or so. A complete family. There’s a huge Bull keeping watch on the ridge to our left, and lower down along the track are his wives and kids. And the kids are adorable. Under a week old, playing butting heads and push and shove, they run around our vehicle, get embarrassed and dash behind Mom, and then peak back out. Their trunks are extremely short – just long enough to reach Mom I guess – and they are awkwardly learning how to control them. Where the adults can use their trunks to pick up what ever they want (the ends are almost like fingers – with an opposable thumb), the youngsters don’t have nearly that much control. In fact – they have almost no control. Sometimes they actually act surprised to have a trunk. It’s amazing.

One of the females positions herself directly behind our vehicle. She is using her trunk to check us out – taking sniffs of the back wheels and literally peering into the truck to see what is inside. Meanwhile a young, but fully grown male is standing to our left. He’s either interested in the females, or thinking about some elephant porn because I suddenly appreciate the joke one of the rangers told us.

“How do you know how many elephants are in the herd you are watching? Count the legs and divide by 4. But sometimes the math just doesn’t work.” Everyone laughed at the time – now I can appreciate why you might count 5 legs…

Anyway – we’re snapping madly – enjoying how very close the animals are to us (I could easily reach out and touch the male elephant – if Freddie wasn’t repeating constantly his advice – keep your hands inside. Do not break the outline of the vehicle. Do not talk. Keep quiet.

Meanwhile – we are all keeping an eye on the large Bull. He’s huge – with good sized tusks, and is obviously dominate. No one argues with him. With surprising speed, he decides that he’s not too happy with our vehicle in the center of his family group. And he wants us to move out. He signals his displeasure by getting ready to charge us. He flares his ears, lowers his head, and starts moving directly at us.

Here’s the situation. Our engine is off. We are on a narrow track. There are high bushes to our right – clearly a challenge to move thru if they were empty, but currently there are 3 elephants in there – two junior elephants, and one large female. To our Left there are at least 6 more Elephants – including the 2 young babies, and several females. Behind us is the very curious female who is still sniffing at the tires.

And in front of us is the Bull. His flared ears make it obvious that he’s not happy with us. But to make it worse – he’s in Rut. Elephant must is staining his back legs, and it is obvious that this is one very discontent Elephant.

Freddie warns us again – no sound, no flash, no breaking the shape of the vehicle. Stay calm. It will be fine.

The Bull comes closer and closer until he is inches from our front bumper. One smash with those tusks, and we’re a vehicle without an engine. If he decides to hook his tusks under the safari vehicle, he could easily toss us.

But it’s not the right day. He veers to the left – and starts checking each and every female to see if she’s ready. He certainly is – of that I’m sure.

If we’d been with our Photographer friends – we should have stayed on the chance that we’d see Elephants matting. But this is not a photographers tour – and Freddie is more concerned with our safety then our Photographers. So as soon as the way ahead is clear – we’re off.

Well – that was cool!

But we’re not done yet. Freddie has been monitoring the radio channels – and he’s heard of another lioness sleeping with her cubs nearby. We drive in that direction and spot the sleeping lions. The vehicle that reported the sighting pulls out, leaving us to watch. We no sooner get into position than the sleeping cubs wake up – and they are hungry. They paw at ‘Mom’ to encourage her to feed them – and she gets up, stretches, and proceeds to lead the pack off to find food.

She takes the 4 cubs about 100 yards, and then clearly tells them to stay put. They are too young to hunt, and would only ruin her chances. The 3 female cubs obey completely – is it surprising to anyone that the male cub breaks rank and moves down the track towards where mom is hunting.

We watch as long as we can, but must eventually leave. We’re out past quitting time – and Victor and I have a long way to go today. We do need to pack.

We return to the Lodge, eat our 3rd Breakfast, pack and say fond goodbyes. We had fun here – and I know I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Baby Elephants.

Our return home, while long and very boring, is uneventful. We spend one night in Jo-Burg, fly overnight to London, spend a day sleeping in London, and then the flight back to Montreal.

We wake at dawn. Seriously – game drives always start at sunrise – and I’m not surprised that this is true even here. So Dawn it is folks. They make it as relaxing as possible of course – this is a luxury version of a safari. So we wake, enjoy coffee and a biscotti while we admire the fog draped tree that stands between us and the game park. Quite lovely.

Freddie is there to welcome us. He’s been up since 4:30 – and I know he left the lodge last night after 9:00. He works seriously long days.

The safari vehicle has been given a wash and a re-load with 2nd breakfast goodies. We are promised a proper breakfast when we return – but for now it’s off into the reserve.

I don’t think I’d thought about the differences between a National Park, a Game Reserve, and the wide open, unfenced reaches of say Rwanda or Botswana. But they are vastly different. Partly it’s about the fences. The Shamwari game reserve is completely, 100% fenced. And the fences are checked every day for signs of tampering. There’s a path that runs along side the fence, we’ve taking that track several times- and it’s easy to see that no one is going in or out easily. Electrified, turned over to prevent burrowing, and then rocks placed every few inches for additional protection. No wonder the Shamwari has a reputation for being anti-poaching. And it’s hard to see the fence. In all my photos – it only appears once. The landscaping is such as to create vast vistas – with the fence carefully placed to avoid ruining the view.

In contrast, the wide open spaces of other game viewing locations means that the wildlife is less safe. We saw animals that were clearly having issues getting enough food in both Botswana and Kenya. But that wasn’t the case here. All the animals – prey and predators alike – looked healthy and well fed. Sleek coats, shiny horns, and lots of little ones spoke towards the feeling that life is good. Well, unless you get eaten I suppose.

Back to dawn at the reserve. Freddie is determined to show us the Rinos and the Water Buffalo, so that’s his focus this morning. But our first stop are Giraffes. There are at least 2 baby Giraffes, adorable in their long legged awkwardness. Giraffes have their young standing up – so it’s a big drop down for the infants. And the first thing they must do is get up to nurse. So really awkward long legs are a must. These babies are young – maybe 2 weeks at most – and spend their time and energy running around madly from adult to adult. Occasionally they might stop to try a nibble off a fresh twig, but since they are basically nursing, it’s run madly – nurse – run madly!

It’s obvious that the parents aren’t particularly worried, and our vehicle is such a normal part of life, we are totally ignored. If they happen to get really close (and they do), the photo opps are amazing.

Next a few long views of the Park as Freddie decides where we should go next – and then a run up a hill past the “Born Free” Foundation buildings. This huge collection of buildings houses predators, mostly lions, that have been rescued and can no longer be trusted in a park. You can hear them roaring good morning from quite a distance. And this is such a normal part of life that the herd animals graze right up to their fence lines. No fear here!

Not so among the warthogs that are literally everywhere in the Park. We have seen dozens of them – surprised at least two out of their burrows – and watched their young at play. Since I’m a particular fan of Warthogs – I’m quite happy to see so many, so happy.

Our game drive ends on a ridge admiring the sunrise, the views, and enjoying a 2nd cup of coffee. Life in the Luxury lane.

We return to the Lodge for third Breakfast, and are offered an afternoon game walk at 12:30 if that’s of interest. I’m the only one who takes Freddie up on the offer. I’m keen for any exercise – normally I get a lot of walking in, but that hasn’t been the case here, and I miss it.

I meet up with Freddie outside of the lodge, and after getting equipped (he has a stick and a radio – that’s nice), we amble off into the ‘open’ park land outside of the lodge. There are no predators in this section of the park – but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful. Warthogs can break legs if they run at you, and there are snakes. Even the cute antelopes and Zebras aren’t to be messed with. I’m reminded of these challenges twice. Once verbally by Freddie, and once when I spot a safari vehicle ahead of us. When I ask Freddie why is the vehicle there – he tells me it’s for my protection. They are pre-spotting our ‘walk’.

Oh dear – I have managed to create a job for 3 rangers in my desire to just take a short (hour and a half) walk. Guilty, Guilty, Guilty. Freddie re-assures me. For him this is a nice break. We get to walk thru the reserve, spot animal scat and foot prints, and generally take the slow route.

I can’t say anything exciting happened – but that wasn’t really the point anyway. It was a lovely walk. I’m glad I went.

I return to the Lodge for lunch – and a new problem. All the guests at the resort (except us) are from South Africa – and the Springbox’s are taking on the New Zealand All Blacks late this afternoon. One of our fellow guests is actually a former member of the Springbox’s – and he is truly huge. Big, Tall, in excellent physical condition. Wouldn’t want to run into him anywhere. Anyway – the issue – the afternoon game drive will return AFTER the start of the game. And while Victor and I can’t really relate to the problem (can’t one just record it?), apparently missing the start is a disaster. And the team has been doing badly of late, so how they perform today will make or break it as to their remaining part of whatever competition this is. (I’m guessing Rugby World Cup).

There is a lot of discussion – and eventually the decision is made to turn on the game, which would effectively ‘record’ the start – and rewind when we get back from the drive.

The folks in our vehicle are keen to see the match, but not crazy. The folks in the other vehicle are totally determined to see the start as close to the time of the real start as is possible. I’m glad I’m not in that vehicle, but I say nothing. Not our country, not our sport!

Decision made, we head out for the afternoon drive. On the hit list are Black Rino (we’ve seen white Rinos, including a baby, but Black Rino’s have not made an appearance as yet) and of course Elephants, Lions, leopards, and Cheetahs. Freddie finds us several Black Rino’s, and we spot a clearly nursing lioness on the hunt. She has targeted some warthogs playing nearby and surprises everyone by disappearing into the brush – and then making her dash for dinner from the other direction. She missed – I’m not sure if our vehicles alerted the Warthogs to their danger, or if she just didn’t have the timing quite right. Too bad. Freddie tells us that she will continue to hunt until she finds dinner – clearly she’s feeding her cubs as well as herself, but we can’t wait around. We have that game to watch.

We return towards the Lodge, and spot some really wonderful photo opps with Black Rinos. Since we’re not in a hurry – the other vehicle has long since gone back – Freddie stops and lets us do our best with the Rino. That works great until the Rino flares his ears to let Freddie know that his patience has just about run out. Freddie announces that we are done here – it would be dangerous to try the Rino’s short fuse any longer – so home we go.

The game is in full progress. And low and behold – the South African Springbox’s are in the lead! Not by much, but still. We gather around and enjoy being with folks who know and love a game – and try their patience by asking dumb questions. I start by asking how do you score points? And then wonder if only the guy in yellow shoes can kick the ball. Our fellow guests think my lack of knowledge is kinda cute – in a dumb blonde way. And while the ‘professionals’ don’t even bother to answer – the Lawyer takes a stab at explaining some of the more basic aspects of Rugby. It is a brutal game – many of the players have ear protectors (apparently getting an ear ripped off isn’t unusual), missing teeth is the norm, and broken collar bones are considered a calculated risk. Players get tossed into the air to catch kicks – and there is something called a Scrum that defies description.

The All Blacks have been dominating the league – beating the pants off every other team by huge margins. I’m not sure I heard correctly, but apparently last year they beat the Springboxs by over 100 points. They are powerful. And ugly. Most of them have no front teeth, and apparently start the game by doing a dance that involves significant amounts of growling.

On the other hand, the South African team can be described as cute. There is a red-head (apparently a star, star player) who is completely adorable, and gets a lot of screen (and scream) time. I cheer along with the rest as the score see-saws back and forth. Finally one of the South African’s is given a Red Card – and escorted off the field. That leaves the Springboxs down one in numbers – and signals the end of the game. The All Blacks have won, by only a point – but still. Our fellow guests are not exactly disappointed – losing by one point is a miracle against the All Blacks – but hopes had run very high for a while. It did look like we might win.

Game over, it’s dinner and bed time. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. Another ‘up at dawn’ safari, and then we must start the long long long journey back to Montreal.

We wake to our alarm, and go down stairs for breakfast. While not quite as wonderful as the breakfast at the Cape Heritage, it’s a delightful spread of various cheeses, cereals, fresh fruit (I love fruit), 4 different kinds of breads, and hot items such as scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes. I order a Latte (wonderful), and even score a newspaper to read. Nice start to the day.

We head out to Spier, one of the massively huge wineries in the area. Spier offers family friendly entertainment along with the wine tasting – there is a ‘Bird of Prey’ exhibit, a large area for picnics, and even Segway Tours of the vineyard. But we are here for the tasting. We are seated at a table, and asked which of the options on offer we would prefer – the standard tasting, the chocolate and wine tasting, or the prestige tasting. Victor reminds them that we’d pre-ordered our selections – and this upgrades us to the ‘knows something about wine’ category. A shift in staff happens – and our new ‘server’ is far more knowledgable about what Spier has to offer. It turns out that she started in the Cellars 3 years ago and has been steadily promoted to a role as one of the ‘top’ tasters.

She certainly knows her wines – and gives us an excellent taste tour though what the vineyard has to offer. The challenge comes when we try to buy some of the wines. They can’t figure out how to ship to the US. Seriously? You are one of the largest producers in the area, and you have no US distribution? How odd is that.

Well – never mind – your competitors have it figured out – we’ll buy wine from them.

After the tasting, we head over to the ‘Slow Market’. I’d seen the signs – it’s held at a winery near by on Saturday from 10-3 – and I think it sounds interesting. And I was right. Unlike the market we went to a few nights ago – this market is huge. There are vendors both inside and outside, and they are selling ready to eat food, soaps, African handicrafts, their personal art (paintings mostly, but there are a pair of brothers doing wire bead work that I love), flowers, vegetables, hand painted this and that – basically it’s a giant assortment of vendors, all selling things that they made.

We love it. We wander thru the entire market, checking prices and admiring this, that and the other before we decide on a freshly made waffle for lunch, along with strawberries picked that day by a local farmer. I surrender to the need to buy something by picking out beaded flowers made by the two brothers mentioned above, and Victor buys some wooden bowls to give as gifts.

After lunch, we head back into Stellenbosch to check out an antique store we spotted (it’s closed by the time we get there), and to visit two of the non-wine related highlights of Stellenbosch, the Village Museum and the Botanical Gardens.

At the Village Museum, the movie isn’t working, but the visits to the 4 older homes (one from 1750’s, two dating from around 1812, and the last from 1850. All 4 homes have interpreters dressed appropriately who give you the standard intro when you walk in. If you ask them questions, they actually know quite a bit about the homes, but the onus is on the visitor to be inquisitive.

We are particularly impressed with the knowledge of the gal in the first 1812 house, and actually leave her a bit extra as a tip.

The Botanical Gardens is a relatively compact area in town that has been a public garden for over 200 years. It is tied to the University – and there are students doing homework or just lounging on most of the larger green portions. The gardens has 4 large greenhouses, a giant Fern garden, a rose garden, several pond areas, and lots of paths winding here and there. It’s quite a lovely spot to spend some time. We are particularly intrigued by a large flowering plant that apparently grows in the shade. But of course – we can’t bring anything home with us like that – we must admire but not buy!

Eventually we head back to our hotel, change for dinner and again wander the streets searching for just the right spot to have dinner. We opt for a hotel restaurant that has set up tables on the sidewalk, making for a lovely outdoor eating area. I love my braised pork belly – a nice change from Lamb chops.